After a cold start, Nicosia rallies for bronze at PIAA wrestling championships

Ray Nicosia didn't want cold medicine to taint the memory of his last high school wrestling tournament. He worked too hard for that.

"I didn't want any regrets my senior season," the Pocono Mountain East senior said. "I wanted to remember a good time for the rest of my life."

Nicosia completed one of the most difficult feats Saturday at the PIAA Class 3A wrestling tournament, one perhaps more grueling than winning a state title. After losing his first-round bout Thursday, Nicosia responded by going 5-0 in the consolation rounds to win a bronze medal.

He capped the run with a 3-0 victory over Norwin's Heath Coles, the Southwest region champ, in the 152-pound consolation final. Nicosia was the only wrestler who lost in the first round to come back and place third. He called it the most difficult, and satisfying, tournament of his career.

"After I won that match, a rush just went through me," he said. "I thought, 'Thank God it's over, and I went out winning.' I've never had to wrestle so many hard matches in my life. Every single kid, after that loss, was coming at my throat, waiting to take me out of the tournament."

Nicosia, the District 11 and Southeast region champ, arrived at states with a cold that he tried to shake with over-the-counter medication. He called that "a mistake," saying it left him lethargic for his first-round bout, which Central Dauphin's Austin Rose won in a 15-0 technical fall.

"I messed up," he said. "I didn't do what I should have. It definitely [affected me]. I went out there kind of like a zombie. My body was there, but my head was back home."

Nicosia quickly recalibrated to win his first consolation bout Thursday, then added four more victories over the remaining two days. "I decided that this wasn't the way I was going out," he said.

After missing the first few weeks of the season for personal reasons, Nicosia concluded with a 19-2 record. He wrestled a perfect postseason, save for the first-round loss at states.

Nicosia said he's leaning "90 percent" toward wrestling at East Stroudsburg University, though he's still looking at other schools. Nebraska is among them.

"If I get a better deal, I'd like to take it," he said.

BIG FINISH: Nazareth coach Dave Crowell struggled to find positives in January, when injuries whittled his lineup thin. He was much more pleased with the finish.

Four of the Blue Eagles' five state qualifiers won medals, led by 285-pound champ Aaron Bradley, who had the only pin of the championship finals. Nazareth finished fourth in the team standings, tops among District 11 teams.

Junior Tyrone Klump, who moved from 113 to 106 for the postseason, placed third after falling to eventual champ Luke Pletcher of Greater Latrobe in the semifinals.

Junior Chase Zemenak (126), who sustained a fractured knee during that January injury run, took sixth. Another junior, 170-pounder Nic Sevi, placed eighth.

"Holy cow, it was a great end-of-the-year performance," Crowell said, "especially since we were trying to find anything to smile about in the middle of the season. The kids really wrestled well."

ON WRESTLING AND ENGINEERING: Tyler Greene intends to study civil engineering at Bucknell University, where he also will wrestle. The Easton senior sees similarities in the two pursuits.

"You have to improvise and think your way through things," Greene said. "Like in wrestling, if somebody is taking it to you, you've got to figure it out."

Greene placed third at 182 pounds, winning his consolation final 8-5 over Governor Mifflin's Marcus Johnson. Still, his thoughts wandered to a 7-2 semifinal loss to Bald Eagle's Jacob Taylor, who won the state title.

"I let him take the match to me," Greene said. "A few days from now, I'll look back and think, 'I was in the state semis, I could have been in the final.' But I came back, so I'm happy with how I finished."

OUT IN STYLE: Freedom and Pennridge claimed two medals each, and all four wrestlers won their final bouts.

Freedom's Jake Young (170) and Evan Kauffman (220) won their fifth-place bouts, with Young doing so despite several injuries. Pennridge's Scott Parker (113) and Ben Ross (120) also placed fifth.

Kauffman is the only senior in the group. Another senior, Easton's Robbie Rizzolino, placed sixth at 132.

NOTEWORTHY: Northampton's four state qualifiers, three of whom won medals, will return next season. … Father Judge's Joe Galasso (138) won his school's first state title and the first for District 12 in Class 3A. … District 7 wrestlers dominated the finals, winning seven titles, three of which came in all-District 7 matchups.

2014 WATCH LIST

Twelve area PIAA Class 3A medal-winners return next season, including Ethan Lizak, who seeks to become Parkland's first three-time state champ. Here's how they fared in Hershey.